Images of my old room flash through my mind. My bed, that view, the Drop, the garden – the Mothers. A longing stirs in a way I hadn’t anticipated. I’ve been telling myself it was all a lie, yet I know it was real. It was the life I lived, and now I pine for the comfort, safety and love they gave me. It existed, and it pains me that I have so much love for a place that has caused me such pain and heartache. A place I will never truly escape because, no matter how hard I try, they’ve stamped their blueprint on my heart and shaped how I see the world.
As we fall into the shadow of the Tower, as the buildings surrounding us grow more cluttered, as I become aware of the presence of civilians who scuttle around us, a light flashes down on me from above.
‘The saviour has been found!’ a voice booms all around us, causing my body to stiffen. Vivian. ‘Attention, all citizens, the saviour has been found! She is alive. She is safe. She is returning.’ Even without seeing her face, I know how smug she looked while she delivered those words.
Noise erupts up ahead as more figures gather in the darkness. I am back in the spotlight. The EPO’s trophy girl.
‘Argh!’ Bram cries out behind me.
I turn to see him on the floor, grabbing his shoulder as a couple of the men hover over him menacingly.
‘Leave him!’ I order.
They look up sheepishly, their eyes flicking to Michael before they do as I say and retreat. It occurs to me that, although the public think Bram kidnapped me, the men on this boat know that I went willingly. Many of them saw us up there. They must know I went of my own accord … yet they’re still happy to take me back. It’s what I want, of course it is, but they don’t know my motive. As far as they’re aware, I’ve been captured and they’re taking me back under Vivian’s orders. Are we all so easily led? So quick to do as we’re told, regardless of what we see with our own eyes, or what we think is right?
My mind wanders to my home at the top of the Tower, and the state it’s in. Have they got rid of everything now the pretence has gone? Is it dark and empty now that the screens have been turned off and the Mothers have no one to look after? Will they ever forgive me for leaving?
The thought of how I’ve disappointed them causes an unsettling feeling in my stomach. There are people in there who must hate me for what I’ve done. They must feel betrayed.
I take a deep breath and try to shake away the thoughts. I’m not planning to be in there for long, and I hope I’ll make those women proud by claiming back what is rightfully mine.
Ours.
When the boat moors at a dock, Michael quietly orders me off. I refuse his offer of help and clamber on to solid ground independently, taking care not to wobble and appear weak. I know she’ll be watching, and I will not give her the satisfaction.
A sea of bodies awaits, as men and a few scattered women stand with their heads bowed, lining a long pathway leading all the way to the Tower. The route is lit by little beads of light they cradle in their hands, creating the illusion of stars in the sky. If it weren’t leading me back into my past, I’d almost think it was pretty.
When Helena threw me on to her back and stormed through this crowd with me, it sounded angry, aggressive and hostile. It is not now, and my arrival is not greeted with euphoria as it was in the Deep.
It’s still, it’s quiet, it’s sombre – as though relief, regret and despair swirl around us all.
The lost girl has returned, but at what price?
Sobs are heard. Shoulders bob up and down.
I push my chin an inch into the air and walk through the parted crowd. There must be thousands of people surrounding us, yet I can hear the thump of my boots as I go.
As I pass, the crowd dips to its knees, the people holding the lights above their heads, like an offering. For what, I do not know.
Her harsh voice slices through the silence.
‘We have also caught the traitor,’ she practically shrieks. ‘See him scurrying behind Eve. He will be punished in due course. He has betrayed us all. He must be punished.’
The crowd twitches. Her words are an invitation – an invitation to seize the person who took their saviour. To seize Bram.
I stop walking, causing Michael to stumble in surprise.
‘Keep going,’ he hisses, his body leaning into mine.
I turn to him. His face implores me to get to the entrance quickly, but I know that if I keep walking I’ll have no control over what happens behind me. Judging by the sounds of confusion echoing among the people around us, the next few seconds are crucial between them deciding to keep the peace they’ve created or take out their fear and panic on Bram. If it turns to the latter, he won’t make it through those doors alive.
I shake my head and walk past Michael towards Bram, who’s being dragged by two of the guards. When they see me walking towards them, they release their hold, causing him to drop to the ground. He spins on the spot and stands, looking panicked, as he stares at the wary crowd.
‘Go and get him, Eve,’ shouts an angry voice. ‘You throw the first punch! Make him pay!’
I stop a few feet away from Bram and wait for the crowd to quieten. They seem to be anticipating the next few moments as much as I am.
I do not throw a punch. Instead, I reach out, and take his cuffed hands in mine.
A collective gasp spreads around us as the crowd understands.
He did not force me to leave. I willingly left with him.
I turn so that we’re both facing the Tower, and I start walking.
With my love by my side.
I take in the faces around me. I smile and nod my thanks. I try to be everything they should want me to be – kind, approachable, forgiving, driven and strong. With each step I take, I feel those things – because I am them. Love swirls, love conquers, love changes the tide. Love for them, their love for me, and love for myself. I never realized how much self-worth could be created by the love of strangers, and each part of this journey has taught me of my own strength and resilience. The people in the Tower, Vivian and her minions, made me think I was weak and undeserving, but the truth is finally starting to dawn. It’s been awoken, and I will not revert. I will not go back to sleep.
I hold on to Bram, flanked by Michael and his team, as we make our way to the end of the throng, and to the ginormous steel arches of the entrance.
‘This is it,’ Bram mutters.
Before life stops, before I’m swallowed by the Tower and have to live with whatever comes next, I turn back to the crowd, back to life beyond the walls they built for me. I give one last wave, one last smile. Closing my eyes, I fill my lungs with one last intake of real air, reminding myself that I am no one’s prisoner. I have come here to fight for freedom – for my own, and for that of those they’ve taken.
I’ve always brushed off the title they bestowed upon me: ‘the saviour of the human race’ left me feeling overwhelmed. Maybe I’m not here to save us from the future but from the present. Perhaps coming here, reclaiming my body and my worth, is where this all begins.
I step inside.
36
Bram
The sterile sting of the air fills me with memories as we enter the EPO Tower, replacing the watching eyes of the outsiders with more watching eyes inside.
‘Thanks,’ I mutter to Eve, as the doors seal behind us.
‘It’s not over yet,’ she whispers back.
Through gaps between the heads of our captors I glimpse Michael up ahead. He beckons Eve forward, and the guards part to let her through.
‘Go with him,’ I whisper.
‘I’m not going anywhere without you.’
‘Look, we need him. Let’s not make things any more difficult for him than they already are. Just play along for now. It’s all protocol anyway. Vivian wants you to be seen and we need her to know that Michael is still hers.’ I nod towards him and Eve understands. She squeezes my hand before joining him, taking the lead as he continues to escort his apparent prize through the vast entrance hall with
every single employee seemingly on pause, stunned at the unnatural sight of a butterfly returning to its cocoon.
A slow trickle of applause begins as we walk across the concrete. People follow like sheep, and after a few seconds a deafening clapping of hands echoes all around us. People reach out to shake Michael’s hand, congratulating him, as if he’s a hunter parading his trophy, but guards from behind push them back, keeping them away from Eve. They bow and nod in acceptance.
I make eye contact with a few EPO employees and something in their stares is off. They appear to be pleased she’s back, pleased with the efforts of the Final Guard, but what’s going on behind those eyes? I get the feeling that not all of them are thrilled to see their saviour return to this prison.
Michael follows a glowing yellow strip that appears on the floor before him. The orders of the Final Guard always cut across the concrete leading them to wherever Vivian wants them.
I steal a look at the arsenal of weapons each Final Guard officer is armed with and come to the conclusion that we’re totally fucked, unless Michael has some brilliant secret plan that he’s not made us aware of yet. He’s our only hope now.
Do I trust him? No.
Do I have a choice? No.
Breaking back in here once and getting Eve out, even with the element of total surprise, was 99.9 per cent going to fail. We got lucky. Being brought back inside wearing cuffs with every man and his gun ready to take me down? We’ve no chance without Michael.
We need you, Michael.
You’d better not be screwing us.
If he is, I’m dead, and Eve is Vivian’s prisoner once again.
We pause for a moment as the lift arrives. The doors open and I’m shoved inside.
Michael grabs my cuffs and drags me to the wall, leaving me at a spot furthest from Eve.
‘Detention Level,’ he announces, as he takes his place at Eve’s side and the doors swish shut.
‘Not the Dome?’ I ask.
‘Silence, traitor,’ he barks.
Well, I guess he’s got to keep up appearances.
‘I want to go to the Dome,’ Eve says.
Funny how he doesn’t dare to shut her up.
‘Not yet. Our orders are to escort you both to Detention Level,’ he explains to Eve, with a tone of respect that none of the guards disputes. Something about the atmosphere is strange. These men would die for Eve, and their actions in the deserted building made it clear that she has an unspoken authority over them, yet here we are with them sentencing her to a life they know she doesn’t wish to live.
The lift stops and the doors open to reveal the long, cold corridor of the prison within this prison. I see the men in the lift exchange the quickest of glances.
Something’s going on.
Something that has them on edge.
It’s either really bad or they don’t know what’s going to happen next either. Both options sound equally concerning.
I’ve not been in the Detention Level before, but if I hadn’t managed to escape from the Tower this is where I would have spent the last of my days. Perhaps it was inevitable that I would end up here. My destiny.
Eve steps out first, following the glowing strip of Michael’s order along the floor but he quickly follows and retakes the lead, perhaps not wanting Vivian to see that he isn’t in control of the situation.
His men already know that to be true.
He leads us around to the cells where long walls of impenetrable glass allow us to see into the empty cages. I used to think this place was for the truly evil, those who wished to destroy any hope of a future for our species. Now I see it’s somewhere for Vivian to hide people she deems to be a danger to her plan. Whatever it may be.
The group halts so abruptly that I almost walk into the armoured back of the guard in front of me.
I crane my neck and see that Eve has stopped. Michael turns to guide her on but she doesn’t move.
I stretch a little more and see why.
The glass cell to her left isn’t empty. In fact, it’s so full that I can hardly see the walls.
It’s them. The Freevers. Everyone captured in the raid on the Deep is here, squeezed into this cell, like a herd of cows being led to the slaughter.
They all see us. They see Eve and I can almost hear their hearts breaking through the wall of their prison.
Everything we worked for is over. Everything we went through, everything we sacrificed, the lives we lost: it was for nothing now that Eve is back inside this place.
I try to project my thoughts to them – They haven’t won yet.
‘Why are we here?’ Eve asks. Her voice short and sharp.
‘I don’t know yet. Our orders are to deliver you and the traitor here,’ Michael says impatiently.
‘Deliver us to whom?’ Eve asks.
Michael jumps. A soft orange glow flashes from underneath his armour coming from the tag on his chest.
The next order.
I’m glad us pilots were never required to have those things. Of course, the old me would have done it in a heartbeat – I’d have implanted anything the EPO wanted to put into my body without question. I imagine Michael felt that way once too. I bet he’s regretting it now.
He taps his vibrating chest and holds a finger to his ear to hear the instruction. His eyes flash at me.
Shit.
As soon as the message finishes, he walks to me and drags me across the room to the full cell.
He waves his hand over the glass and the control panel is displayed. He taps away, and a moment later the glass appears to split open, creating a temporary door.
‘Inside,’ he says, guiding me to the entrance.
As I’m pushed into it I see that it doesn’t lead straight into the cell but to more of a holding space, a sort of airlock between the cell and the corridor. A security measure to allow prisoners to be added or removed from cells without the risk of other inmates escaping.
Michael returns to the control panel and a few taps later the glass reseals in front of me and a new opening is revealed behind.
‘I’m so sorry. Are you all okay?’ I say, as I stumble into the cell packed with my Freever family.
They pull me in, patting my back, rubbing my shoulders, hugging me.
‘It was Saunders,’ I tell them.
‘We know,’ Helena says, and a few of my brothers move aside to reveal her resting on the floor with her back against the wall.
‘Helena, look at you. Are you all right?’ I say, kneeling down beside her.
‘Don’t look at me like that.’ She squirms.
‘Like what?’
‘Like I’m an old lady. There’s fight in me still, you know.’ She gives me a little nudge on my chin with her knuckle before letting my cuffed wrists rest in her hands, cupped in the frayed wool of her fingerless gloves.
‘Well, you’re the most lethal old lady I know,’ I say, and she forces a laugh.
‘Saunders is dead,’ I tell her.
‘We know that too. We all saw it happen,’ Chubs says from over my shoulder. ‘She wanted us to see it. He got what he deserved, though. Lying bastard. If that guard hadn’t done it, I would have.’ Chubs nods towards Michael and I suddenly realize he was ordered to carry out Saunders’s sentence. That can’t have been easy.
‘What will they do with Eve now?’ Helena asks, cutting straight to the point.
‘I’m not sure, but I’ve got a feeling we’re all about to find out.’ I stand and face the glass wall looking out into the corridor.
‘What’s he doing?’ Chubs asks, as Michael holds his palm to his chest.
‘He’s getting a new order,’ I explain.
Michael’s face turns pale. Whatever he’s just been told to do is definitely not something he wants. He takes a breath and grasps Eve’s arm.
The Freevers gasp.
‘Get your hands off her!’ Chubs calls, and the crowd joins in yelling profanities.
Eve doesn’t fight it this time, though. Sh
e walks with him to the end of the corridor into a pool of cold white light. Michael stops in front of four cuffs on the floor. They’re piled like a tower of hard steel.
He points to a spot and Eve obeys by standing in it, her best poker face presenting strength but her cheeks are pulled tight, the muscles a little tenser than usual. There’s fear behind that expression but not for herself. Her eyes flash towards me and my heart skips.
Don’t worry about us, I say, in my head. If I think it hard enough, she might hear.
Michael puts the cuffs on. One on each wrist and each ankle. He steps back to the edge of the pool of light and there is a brief stillness.
Everyone looks at everyone else.
Suddenly a thin strip of red light illuminates Eve’s restraints as they are activated from some unseen source. Her arms are pulled out to the sides, her legs held tight as she’s lifted from the floor by the invisible force.
‘No!’ cry the Freevers. Winces and screams of sympathy bounce off the glass holding us back.
Eve doesn’t scream, though. She closes her eyes and allows the pain her restraints must be causing to settle as though she somehow numbs herself to the sensation of being suspended by her limbs.
My blood boils at seeing her treated like this. The most precious being alive and Vivian has her dangling like a piece of meat. Our fragile existence is being stretched out before us.
I see the Final Guard, lined up in formation outside the cell, twitch uneasily as the person they are sworn to protect with their lives is displayed before them like the ultimate traitor.
Seeing Eve like this must make them wonder to whom we’re traitors: she can hardly be a traitor to herself.
Again Michael jumps. Subtle light seeps through the gaps in his body armour from his chest implant.
The next order.
He remains calm, assuming what must be his own poker face now as he steps towards the cell opposite. I realize for the first time that this glass wall isn’t transparent. It’s frosted, obscuring the room’s occupants from our view.
The Eve Illusion Page 22